A homogeneous and contiguous region of an image where text, captions or figurative elements can be placed without hiding any important image contents is called open space, or alternatively, copy space, dead space, negative or empty space. Images having these regions of regular, low contrast, relatively smooth texture qualities are desirable for the placement of such textual or figurative elements. Images with these properties are commonly used in multimedia presentations, advertising and publishing, such as magazine covers, as well as in compositing operations. In such applications, large image collections are frequently searched to locate images with the desired open space(s). Current approaches to conduct such a search require extensive user involvement in properly assessing the collection images in terms of their open space properties, which are also called open space metadata. Open space metadata can include quantification of the open space depietive properties such as color, texture, shape, extent, and location. Previous methods employed to store and retrieve images containing open space relied on either user memory or paper records to retain the open space metadata for all images in the collection. User memory was frequently spread over several people and paper records were commonly misplaced. Both methods were prone to inaccurate retrieval of desired images containing open space. Computer-based systems, such as the KODAK.TM. Picture Exchange, provided users the ability to store large collections of images and to retrieve desired images containing open space through the use of manual cataloging of open space metadata. However, the process of manually cataloging the open space metadata for each image in the collection is tedious and prone to errors caused by the fatigue and emotional state of the human operators. Furthermore, manually assigned open space metadata is generally subjective and inconsistent. This often results in unreliable image retrieval and loss of productivity.
Therefore, there is a need for a system and method for storing and retrieving images based upon objectively identified and consistently characterized open space within the images.